If you've been put in charge of setting up an iPad for your mom, dad, or grandparent, this guide will save you hours. Below is everything you need: which iPad to buy, which accessories are worth it, the exact accessibility settings to change, the apps to keep, the apps to delete, and the one thing almost every family gets wrong on day one.

Older adults love iPads. The screen is big. The interface is forgiving. They don't need a mouse. And once it's set up properly, an iPad is the best single piece of technology in an aging parent's life. It keeps them connected to family, in touch with the world, and active in ways that genuinely help their cognitive health.

The catch: how you set it up matters more than which one you buy. A perfectly chosen iPad with a bad setup is frustrating. A modest iPad with a thoughtful setup is a gift. This guide is about the thoughtful setup.

Which iPad should you buy?

Short answer: the cheapest current-generation iPad. Not the Air, not the Pro, not the Mini. Just the standard iPad.

Here's why:

Get the most storage you can comfortably afford. Older adults take a lot of photos. Don't get stuck with the 64GB model if you can avoid it.

Cellular vs Wi-Fi? Wi-Fi only is fine for most parents. The exceptions are parents who live somewhere with bad Wi-Fi, travel a lot, or whose family wants them to be reachable when they're away from home. In those cases, get cellular and pair it with a low-cost data plan.

What else to buy

You don't need much, but a few accessories make a real difference.

Skip the keyboard case. They almost never get used by older adults and they add weight.

"How you set it up matters more than which one you buy."

The setup, step by step

Do this for your parent, not with your parent. The initial setup involves Apple ID accounts, passwords, terms of service screens, and decisions that will overwhelm them. Just do it yourself the first time.

Step 1: Decide whose Apple ID to use

Your parent probably needs their own Apple ID. If they have an iPhone already, use that same Apple ID. If not, create one for them. Use your phone number as the recovery number so you can help when they lock themselves out (and they will).

Write down the password somewhere safe. Save it in your own password manager. They will forget it.

Step 2: Go through initial setup

  1. Turn on the iPad and follow the on-screen setup.
  2. Connect to their home Wi-Fi.
  3. Sign in with their Apple ID.
  4. Skip Face ID and Touch ID for now. You can set these up later. Use a simple 4-digit passcode instead. Something memorable to them like their birth year or wedding anniversary year.
  5. Skip iCloud sync of contacts, calendars, etc. for now. We'll come back to this.
  6. Skip Siri, Apple Pay, and most of the optional features. Less to learn upfront is better.

Step 3: Make everything bigger

This is the single most important set of changes. Go to Settings → Display & Brightness and:

Then go to Settings → Accessibility → Display & Text Size and:

Then Accessibility → Zoom (optional). For parents with significant vision issues, turn this on and learn the three-finger double-tap to zoom anywhere.

Step 4: Simplify the home screen

The iPad comes with way too many apps preinstalled. Most of them will confuse your parent. Time to clean up.

  1. Delete or hide every app your parent will not use. Long-press, then tap "Remove App" → "Delete App". Don't worry, you can always reinstall.
  2. Suggested apps to remove: Stocks, Reminders (if they won't use it), News, Tips, GarageBand, iMovie, Translate, Freeform, Shortcuts, Watch (it's an iPad, not a phone).
  3. Keep: Phone (or FaceTime), Messages, Mail, Safari, Photos, Camera, Maps, Music, Notes, Weather, Settings.
  4. Drag the most important apps to the bottom dock so they're always visible. Recommended dock: FaceTime, Messages, Photos, Safari.
  5. Group remaining apps into ONE folder called "Other" or "More" if you want. Don't create lots of folders. Older adults usually can't remember which folder something is in.

Step 5: Set up FaceTime properly

FaceTime is the single most important app on an elderly parent's iPad. It's how they'll see their grandkids. Don't skip this.

  1. Open FaceTime and sign in with their Apple ID.
  2. Add yourself as a contact. Make sure your name shows up exactly how they'll search ("Mom" might call you "Sarah", not "Sarah Jane Smith").
  3. Add every important family member. Use first names only, or whatever name your parent will think of first.
  4. Show your parent how to start a call. Demonstrate it three or four times. Don't assume one demo is enough.
  5. Make sure incoming FaceTime calls actually ring loudly. Go to Settings → Sounds → Ringer and Alerts and turn the volume all the way up. The default is too quiet.

Apps worth installing

Less is more. Don't install 30 apps. Install these few that genuinely help.

And one thing that isn't an app

If part of your goal is to keep your parent engaged daily and feeling less isolated, you might also consider Everly. The reason it's not in the app list above is that Everly isn't an app. Your parent doesn't have to download anything, learn anything, or remember a password.

Here's how it works for the parent:

  1. You (the family member) sign up at talkwitheverly.com from your own phone or computer.
  2. From your settings, you grab their personal link and PIN. The PIN is 4444 by default. You can change it if you'd like.
  3. You text or email that link to your parent.
  4. They tap it on their iPad. They enter the PIN. They start talking with Everly.

That's it. No app to install. No account for them to manage. No "I forgot my password" calls to you at dinner. Bookmark the link on their home screen and it looks and behaves like any other app, but with none of the setup pain.

Everly talks with your parent every day and quietly preserves the stories they share. It was built for exactly this kind of family situation, where you want your parent to have meaningful daily engagement without forcing them to learn yet another piece of software.

Settings that matter for older adults

A few more changes that make a big difference.

The one thing most families get wrong

The mistake almost every family makes on day one: they hand the iPad to the parent and say "let me know if you have questions."

Your parent will not call you with questions. They will get confused, get frustrated, put the iPad down, and not pick it up again for three weeks. Then you'll ask why they haven't been using it and they'll say "I don't really know how it works."

The fix is simple. Spend a full afternoon with them after the setup is done. Walk through every common task. Make calls together. Watch a YouTube video together. Have them text you while you're sitting next to them. Have them open and close apps until they're comfortable.

Then call them the next day. Ask them to FaceTime you while you're on the phone with them. Talk them through any hiccup.

One afternoon plus one follow-up call is the difference between an iPad that gets used every day and one that lives in a drawer.

A few final things

Write down their Apple ID and password somewhere safe. Save it in your password manager. Email yourself a copy. You will need it.

Set up Family Sharing (Settings → your name → Family). This lets you help with App Store purchases, locate the iPad if it's lost, and approve apps remotely.

Don't expect them to learn it all in one day. The goal is for the iPad to feel friendly within a week, not perfect within an hour.

And don't be embarrassed if your parent asks you the same question five times. That's not them being slow. That's them learning a new tool, exactly the way you and I learned new tools when we were their age trying to figure out a VCR.

Be patient. Set it up well. Spend the afternoon. The reward, for both of you, is years of easier connection.

Ryan is the founder of Everly. He's helped his own family set up more iPads for grandparents than he can count, and learned most of the tips above the hard way.

Got an iPad-for-parents tip we missed? Send it our way.